Minnesota's 'nice' culture shattered by political violence

BBC News

18-06-2025

Jessie Ebertz held back tears as she stood in front of a makeshift memorial honouring the slain Democratic politician Melissa Hortman and her husband."Minnesota has felt a little bit like a safe haven," said Ms Ebertz, a government employee who lives in the state capital, "because we have been able to keep our atmosphere of respecting one another here.""This has blown that out of the water."The death of Hortman and her husband has sent a shockwave through the state. They were killed early Saturday morning by an assailant disguised as a police officer, who also injured Democratic state lawmaker, John Hoffman, and his wife. Both are expected to survive. But the attacks, which appear politically motivated, have badly shaken confidence in the state's reputation for politeness, courtesy and respect, an attitude that has its own nickname and Wikipedia page: "Minnesota nice". Prosecutors say the suspect Vance Boelter also visited two other homes early Saturday searching for politicians.The state's largest-ever manhunt ended late Sunday when Boelter was captured near his home in a rural area dotted with farms, gravel roads and small villages about an hour away from the twin cities of Minneapolis and St Paul.
Many pointed out that Mrs Hortman was known for her ability to work with Republican colleagues, including recently to pass a state budget vote. On Monday local talk radio station WCCO replayed one of her last interviews, jointly done with Republican colleagues, where among other things they discussed what they might do if they spent some off time together.The idea that this friendly state in the Upper Midwest could avoid the political rancour which is more frequently tipping over into violence elsewhere is an illusion, says Jenna Stocker, editor of Thinking Minnesota, a publication put out by the conservative think tank Center of the American Experiment.The centre's office was firebombed last year in what think tank officials called a politically motivated attack. Nobody has been charged with the crime."Some people even here in Minnesota have really let politics guide their thinking and how they feel about their neighbours, their friends and their relatives," Ms Stocker says.In extreme cases, that has led to extreme actions. Several recent studies indicate that political violence is growing across the US, reaching a level not seen since the 1970s.Reuters has tallied more than 300 cases of politically motivated violence since the January 2021 Capitol riot. A 2023 study from the Brennan Center for Justice, a left-leaning institute, found that 40 percent of state legislators had experienced threats or attacks in the three years prior.Despite widespread fears, fuelled in part by two assassination attempts against Donald Trump and the 2021 US Capitol riot, there was no large-scale violence around the time of the November 2024 presidential election.But any supposed détente has been broken - several times over - since that vote.In April the residence of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, was set on fire. Politics appear to have motivated the alleged killers of a health-care executive in New York and two Israeli embassy employees in Washington.In Washington, members of the US Congress were set to get emergency briefings about security this week.Here in Minnesota, meanwhile, many people were lamenting what the attacks on the state's politicians mean in a place that prides itself on its openness and ability to avoid the viciousness of national politics.Despite the rawness of the recent attacks, inside the Capitol building there was little visible sign of heavy security – and no metal detectors – on Monday afternoon. Among the mourners, several of Hortman's relatives laid flowers in front of the state House chamber, where a table was laden with bouquets and signs reading "Demand Change" and "Rest in Power".In between the news cameras and flowers, a group wandered around the building on a guided tour and legislative officials went about their work in an eerie hush.But as people here mourned, nationally the partisan arguments continued.President Trump on Tuesday said he wouldn't be calling the state's governor, Tim Walz – the Democratic vice-presidential nominee in last year's election – calling him "a mess"."The guy doesn't have a clue," he told reporters.In the wake of the attacks, several of Trump's top supporters and allies - including Utah Senator Mike Lee, Elon Musk, conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer and activist Charlie Kirk - attempted without evidence to link Walz and Democratic lawmakers to the killings.Lee wrote: "This is what happens When Marxists don't get their way" while Musk reposted a message including a line about the attacks with the comment "The far left is murderously violent".Both men, who did not respond to requests for comment, appear to have been sucked in by conspiracy theories floating around online.Many pointed to the fact that Walz and a previous Democratic governor had appointed the suspect to a position on a state economic board.However, the suspect Mr Boelter was a supporter of President Trump who held conservative views, according to interviews with friends and neighbours. And according to evidence revealed by authorities, his long target list included Democratic and progressive lawmakers, and he had flyers with information about anti-Trump "No Kings" rallies which happened in St Paul and other cities around the country on Saturday.Although the exact motive is still under investigation, evidence has indicated that the suspect was targeting the president's opponents and left-wing and Democratic Party politicians.
"It's terrifying," said Kameko White, a neighbour who lived near one of the suspect's homes, in north Minneapolis, which was raided by police on Saturday."I saw that man every day in his yard," Ms White said. "The other day I saw him outside smoking and writing something down in a notebook."While the capture of Mr Boelter gave some measure of relief here, discussions on the airwaves in Minnesota have turned towards what can be done to cool the political temperature and prevent future attacks.Ms Stocker, the editor of Thinking Minnesota, said "there's good people here" and noted that the vast majority of Minnesotans reject violence.However an increase in "othering" and heated rhetoric makes her pessimistic about the chances of peace any time soon."It's going to take a whole generation of people to say we're not going to take this any more and it just needs to stop," she said."I think we need young people to rise up and say we're just not going to stand for it."